'A Light Lunch' is post-Bush comedy

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT), Chesley Plemmons Theater Critic

Published
1:00 am EST, Friday, January 2, 2009

It's unlikely that many of us ever wonder whether a playwright has enjoyed writing the play we're seeing, but it's clear from the start that Roxbury's A.R. Gurney must have had a high old time with "A Light Lunch." Written especially for the tiny, but timely off-Broadway Flea Theatre ("The Guys"), and its artistic director Jim Simpson, "Lunch" is having its world premiere there through Jan. 25.

"Lunch" is both an inside joke about the theater and a clever -- but not excessively caustic -- evaluation of the Bush presidency. Perhaps the first "post- Bush" play, the normally liberal sounding Gurney has found a way "to bury Bush while still praising him" -- an interesting conceit that may keep lefties off balance until the playwright's strategy becomes clear.

Set in a restaurant in Broadway's theater district -- though not identified, the caricatures on the wall suggest Sardi's, while the checkered tablecloths say
Joe Allen
's -- the ambiance is pure New York. And that includes Viola (Havilah Brewster), the outspoken, opinionated waitress on duty. Like legions of other food servers, Viola is an aspiring actor -- "I wait to act," she says.

The action begins with the arrival of Beth (
Beth Hoyt
), an attractive Texas lawyer on a mission that involves the playwright A.R. Gurney. She asks Viola if she has ever heard of him. "Is he the one that has been around forever?"

It's soon obvious Gurney is going to make himself and his work the butt of some very funny, self-deprecating jokes.

Beth's luncheon date is Gary (

Tom Lipinski
), a low-level minion in the William Morris Agency who represents Gurney. Super casual and super cool, he would be an obvious romantic match for Beth -- except that this is a working luncheon.

Her unnamed client wants to buy the rights to Gurney's new play, a work that only a few insiders have even heard of. "Gurney is no spring chicken," volunteers Gary, "this play may be his last gasp!" -- a confession Beth takes to be a maneuver to raise the price. After much jockeying around, punctuated by Viola's intrusions (only a few have to do with food or drink) Gary forces Beth to confess that she knows the play is about Bush and his presidency.

Laying her cards on the table, along with a very high cash offer, Beth tells Gary that she represents a "Jim."

Drolly, Gary replies: "There's a Jim Simpson who runs the Flea Theatre in Tribeca. He's done some Gurney plays, but he's not a Texan."

By now you have probably figured out that Beth's boss is out to keep Gurney's play from ever being seen, something that eludes Gary at first. When "Jim" is finally revealed to be
Jim Baker
, the plot thickens rapidly.

Beth and Gary, having entertained rather casually the possibility of a post-luncheon tryst, find themselves now at opposite political poles, locations that don't do much for the libido.

Marshall (
John Russo
), Viola's boyfriend and a college professor who teaches theater, arrives on the scene and joins the debate over Bush's legacy and possible ways that Gurney might find an answer to the still illusive conclusion of his play.

Though the issues are serious the youthful nature of all four characters keeps everything light -- like the lunch -- and airy.

The performances are spirited and full of verve even if the humor in Brewster's nasally correct but overbearing Viola wears thin after a while. Hoyt and Lipinski make attractive combatants and Russo's puffed up erudition is perfectly on target.

A word of advice -- if you find yourself in a restaurant in the theater district and your waiter or waitress announces him or herself as your server and has a name that sounds suspiciously like it came from a play -- quick! -- get another table.

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"A Light Lunch" plays through Jan. 25 at the Flea Theatre, 41 White St., between Church and Broadway, three blocks south of Canal Street, New York City. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7 p.m., and matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 3.